Snack Culture

I've been tagged by Gavin on the MediaSnacking meme, the concept of which is around people consuming small bits of information and entertainment whenever and however they want. The original video which sparked this off seems to suggest that this a youth driven phenomenon, but like Gavin I believe this is not about age (don't we all do this to a greater or lesser extent now?) but more about behaviour.

Production and consumption of all forms of content is changing in response to changing consumer demand. People are increasingly adept at aggregating, managing and distilling larger amounts of information whether by changing the way they read, watch and surf or by personalising the architecture of their consumption via social bookmarking, RSS, newsfeeds and the like. As David Armano has said, snacking is not necessarily bad for you along as the food is nutricious enough and you don't spoil your appetite. Alongside the bite-sized, I still believe there is an appetite for the satisfaction of a carefully prepared three-course meal. It's about entertainment, relaxation and down-time. It's also about relevance, quality, time, place, context. If it's good enough, people are still willing to spend time with long-form content in whichever form, be it books, magazine features, or movies.

Anyway, the meme is about whether I cater for 'Media-Snackers' - the short answer is no. Gavin was kind enough to describe my blog as "a tasty, bite sized blog full of punch" (thanks Gavin). But I wouldn't say that I write with any particular type of consumption in mind - the way I post is the way it comes out. Generally this is about things which particularly interest me. I guess that means that I can sometimes beabitrandom, but I hope it's never less than interesting. Even the occasional post aboutchickens :).